Moalboal city center

Moalboal is a small city on the southcoast of Cebu Island, 90km away from the Cebu city. It became more and more popular as a diving spot because of the various coral reef and rich life under water.

Transportation from Mactan Airport to Moalboal

Once you are at Mactan Airport, you can either take a bus or taxi or you can ask your resort to pick you up in advance. Sampaguita Dive Resort arranged a pick up for me. It takes 3 hours and you pass 9 cities.

If you want to take the taxi to Moalboal, you need to negotiate the price with taxis, you can pay ₱2000-2500, they might charge ₱3000-4500, so better to negotiate (July 2016).

If you want to take the bus, this is the cheapest but it will take up to 4 hours maximum. You need to take a taxi to go to the bus terminal and with white-metered taxis, it might cost you around ₱200. There is also another taxi company that is the yellow airport taxi and they are a bit more expensive, if you take them it might cost you around ₱300. The taxis are located at the right of the exit. Do not get into any car that doesn’t have a taxi sign on the top. When you arrive at the bus terminal, you need to take Ceres Liner with the yellow color. There are 2 types of buses, the buses with and without aircon. Travelling with bus won’t cost you more than ₱140-150 (July 2016).

Where to visit & what to do in Moalboal city center?

Whenever I travel, locals markets are always important for me, there is so much to learn from those markets about the local life. In Moalboal there are 3 local markets, meat & fish market, vegetable market and the fruit market.

FISH & MEAT MARKET

This is one of the most lively markets in Moalboal. Mostly ladies are selling fish and meat. That’s the interesting thing in Asia, there are more women working in the fish and meat markets than men but in Turkey I’ve never seen a woman working, selling fish in the fish market.

The best thing is that the markets look calm and happy as nobody is shouting to sell their goods, women here they smile and they are very kind.

FRUIT MARKET

Fruit market is close to the fish and meat market. Fruit market is not as big as fish and meat market but it is very popular.

VEGETABLE MARKET

Fish & Meat Market, Fruit Market and Vegetable Market, they are all close to each other. Again, in the Vegetable Market, you will see more women behind the stalls then man.

From the Vegetable Market, I’ll take you to the old church that you can see its tower from here.

THE RUINS OF SAN JUAN NEPOMUCENO CHURCH

This is known as a Spanish Colonial Church ruins. It is still standing after numerous storms, eartquakes and battles but it is not being used.There is a new church that was built nearby the ruins but the ruins kept intact.

In Asia, you’ll see a lot of scooters, motorcycles, bicycles in most of the streets but here trycycles are dominating the streets. They are like a small shuttle that can take 4-7 people and it is cheap. At night, some of them turn into a small disco with the loud dance music and disco lights.

CAFE CEBUANO

When you feel tired walking around the city, here is a nice spot for you to have a coffee, have lunch or dinner. It is right beside the sea, operates both as a bar and a cafe with a great view. The food is clean and the service is fast.

You’re done with the local bazaars and ruins in the city center, then it is time to go a bit further to hit the White Beach.

WHITE BEACH

This is a lovely beach with a beautiful coral reef very close to the shore. You can do snorkelling and see amazing sea-life forms. This is a popular spot so if you want to avoid the crowd, go very early and weekdays are better than weekends for sure. There are cheap restaurants lined on the beach, so you won’t starve.

If you’re lucky, you might witness a surprise marriage proposal under this haha.

KAWASAN WATERFALLS

This is a must seen natural beauty. It is known as a three-step-waterfall. Here is our detailed article: Kawasan Waterfalls

MOALBOAL SEASIDE PARK

Catch the sunset at Moalboal Seaside Park…This park is popular among locals especially during the sunset and the evening. It is located right across the fish and meat market.

Locals here they love talking to foreigners, they invited me to their table and it was amazing to see how good they speak English. In Philippines, most kids start learning English in kindergarten.